Caroline Norton was a best selling novelist in the early 19th century in Britain. She had a very cruel and aggressive husband who often hit her. He then left her for good taking all her possessions even everything she had earned from her books and their three sons. Caroline had no right to fight against her husband or have the right to see her children, as the law gave no rights to women. However Caroline decided to stand up against the English law. So she started a campaign for her own justice and to change the law that left her powerless. Caroline knew she was not alone as there were many women out there who were in the same position as her. So using her writing skills and the influential people she had contacts with she wrote pamphlets, challenged leading politicians to reconsider the views of women’s position in Britain and She also wrote letters to queen Victoria many times about the difficult situations she had faced and amongst other women in their marriages. Caroline campaigned for two main issues which were about divorce and property. She wanted rights for women to be able to divorce men in the same grounds as men. She also wanted women to have the same rights as men to own their own property when married.
Over the years there was very little but slow progress in the development for women’s suffrage. Caroline had many allies amongst women and men. Her two main issues were about improving women’s rights over divorce and property. However this took a very long slow progress, as politicians did not agree with what she had to say. The first successful law that was introduced was in 1857, the Matrimonial law causes Act allowed women to divorce their husband only if they could prove that he had caused cruelty, desertion or adultery. This law had another effect on divorced women, as they were seen as widows so they were given the right to their own property. Then in 1870, the Women’s Property Act gave women the right to keep hold of their money and possessions after they married. After these two laws were introduced, more new laws came quickly. For example in 1878 a woman who was separated from her husband had the right legally to claim support for her and her children, but that was only if her husband was cruel to her. Caroline's main achievements in terms of marriage and divorce were that she had successfully been able to make changes to the law giving women the right to be able to keep hold of their property after marriage. Women were also able to divorce their husbands in much easier grounds and were given the right to regard for their children and even claim for maintenance for themselves and their children if they separated from their husband.
These new laws in some ways were a step forward as they gave women some rights within marriage and divorce. However there still wasn’t equality between both sexes, like in divorce the Matrimonial Causes Act said men could divorce their wife if he could prove only one thing whilst women had to prove two things. Also there were still many issues that were left like women having jobs to support them selves financially like becoming a teacher or a nurse. Girls also didn’t get equal education opportunities as boys because girls were not seen important. These economic issues helped motivate women to join the campaign, as many women wanted to have a better and the same education as boys, so that they could have a secure future, as it allows them to have a career in life like a doctor or an accountant, which would help support themselves financially, because women wanted to become more independent, rather than relying on their husbands to bring in the money.
Another reason that motivated women to join the campaign was that they knew that the only way they could gain these rights were if women got the vote in government. As progress began more and more women started to think, as they had been educated, so wanted to control and plan how many children they were going to have because they started to realise that there was no need to have children every year, so they wanted to have birth control. But the only way to do this was to join the suffrage campaign, as they needed to make birth control legalised.
However there were many political and social reasons, which opposed the ideas of the women’s suffrage campaign. Firstly the government thought that women didn’t have any idea about government or politics so they shouldn’t have the vote. Whilst many people believed that women are too sensitive to make tough decisions and also men didn’t want women to have the same power as them anyway. What’s more some women thought that the present position given to them was enough, while other people believed that giving women their rights would make them neglect their family and the house.
To conclude this essay after discussing the reasons why the suffrage campaign developed in the years after 1870, I would say that there were a number of political, economic and social reasons which opposed the suffrage campaign. While also it took time to motivate women to join the campaign as many women didn’t support them. But over time women realised that the only way they could gain their rights was to join the campaign. This made them more aware of the importance of the vote and attracted more women to join the campaign, as they wanted more rights and freedom for women. Also women wanted to join the suffrage campaign because many women wanted to be financially independent so that they were able to support and provide for themselves and their children.
